White has been criticized for not appearing with Obama when he was in Austin for a national Democratic fundraiser earlier this year. And during a statewide televised debate Tuesday, he clearly was uncomfortable when a panelist asked him to rate the president on a scale of one to 10.

“I’m not going to give running commentary on our president, although I would call him president,” White said, alluding to his criticism of Perry for only referring to the president by name without his title.

White said he would work with people on “both sides of the aisle” if elected governor.

But White’s two debate opponents, Libertarian Kathie Glass and Green Party nominee Deb Shafto, had no trouble rating the president.

Perry said he would not debate because White refused to release income tax returns from three years when he was a deputy U.S. secretary of energy in the 1990s. Perry also dismissed the value of debates, saying the panelists often asked questions that were unimportant to voters, such as who is the president of Mexico.

With Perry absent, White and the other candidates spent most of the hour critical of Perry and his state policies.

White criticized Perry for giving millions of dollars in state business incentives to companies whose investors have donated to his campaign but then turning down a request for a Goodyear plant in Tyler that closed and put average Texans out of work.

Glass accused Perry of “dereliction of duty” for his handling of the border with Mexico. Glass said Perry should send Texas National Guard troops to the border rather than “beg” Washington to take care of it.

Shafto said she could not think of a single positive thing Perry has done as governor.

Income tax idea floated

But they also took positions on other issues.

Shafto said she favors an income tax on the top 20 percent of earners in Texas to make the state’s tax system more fair. Glass opposed the income tax and said property taxes should be eliminated. White said he opposed an income tax and a proposed statewide property tax, but wants to overhaul the state’s current property tax system.

White and Glass said they favor the death penalty; Shafto said she opposed it as uncivilized.

White said he would oppose legalizing medical marijuana. Shafto said the nation learned nothing from Prohibition and that making drugs illegal already is creating crime. Glass said as governor she would sign a law legalizing medical marijuana, but she said it was only a “hypothetical” because a Republican Legislature would never pass it